Almost as absurd as the idea of Intel backing out of their IA-64 development
in favor of x86-64 is the unfortunate perception that the world’s largest desktop
microprocessor manufacturer is not driven by engineering but rather by marketing.
If microprocessor design were easy enough for a team of PR agents to tackle
then many of us would have to change majors or head back to school very soon.
The fact of the matter is that Intel is as driven by innovation as they are
by engineering and in order to get an idea of what exactly goes on inside
Intel, we made a trip up to the Intel Labs in Hillsboro,
Oregon.

This article won’t cover any NDA information, it won’t reveal secrets about
Intel’s roadmaps for 2002, rather it will serve as a bit of insight into how
Intel operates at the engineering level. The Intel you normally hear about
is the Intel that’s pulling balloons down at Computex or the Intel that’s suing
VIA for something or other, today we’ll be showing you the Intel that doesn’t
care about anything outside of making fast, reliable and powerful circuits.